CWA: No Excise Tax on Health Care

CWA health care activists meet with President Cohen before heading to Capitol Hill for appointments with members of Congress.

CWA members are making tens of thousands of phone calls to Capitol Hill from worksites, homes and union halls to make sure senators get the message: Don't tax workers' health care.

Over the past few weeks, CWA members have made nearly 40,000 calls, and those efforts will intensify as the Senate works to combine bills passed by the Senate HELP Committee and Senate Finance Committee, said CWA Executive Vice President Annie Hill. Wednesday, Oct. 28 is the next "National Call-In Day" and CWAers will be organizing phone-ins at worksites and other locations. CWA members also can follow the debate and CWA's calls for action on Facebook and Twitter; key word CWAHealthCare.

The Senate Finance Committee version of health care reform includes a tax on health care plans that would hit working and middle class families hard and does nothing to make companies that are now health care "freeloaders" pay their fair share.

"It's absurd to make those employers who already provide health care coverage pay even more. Instead, employers that don't cover their workers need to pay," said CWA President Larry Cohen. The excise tax will lead to even more cost-shifting to workers, he added.

A new Washington Post/ABC poll finds that 61 percent of Americans oppose the tax on health care plans and "shows what we have known all along: The public does not support a middle class tax to fund health care reform when there are plenty of other progressive alternatives" including an 8 percent payroll tax levied on employers that don't provide health care coverage to workers and a rollback of some tax breaks given to the wealthiest Americans during the Bush administration.

Read CWA's analysis of the excise tax and its devastating effects on CWAers and working families. 

Update on CWA Human Rights Program

A group representing CWA's Executive Board Diversity Committee, National Women's Committee, National Committee on Equity and Minority Caucus met this week in Washington D.C to review CWA's Human Rights program and recommend ways to strengthen it. 

This is the second meeting for the group; participants met in April to begin discussions on how to expand participation at all levels of the program, develop materials for locals and use resources in ways that build the effectiveness of CWA's Human Rights effort. 

Joining the meeting were the At-Large Executive Board Diversity members, Executive Vice President Annie Hill; Vice President Brooks Sunkett, public, health care and education workers, and CWA staff working on human rights issues. President Larry Cohen also spoke with the group.

The Human Rights program encompasses CWA's civil rights and women's programs.

N.J. CWAers Determined to Defeat Anti-Worker Candidate for Governor

CWA members in New Jersey, already working hard to re-elect Governor Jon Corzine, have been fired up by new attacks on public workers and CWA by the Republican candidate for governor, Chris Christie.

Earlier, Christie had declared war on state workers, bragging in campaign ads and interviews that he'll bust contracts and lay off thousands of employees. Now, his team has posted a new YouTube attack on CWA.

CWAers have made more than 90,000 phone calls to CWA families and have knocked on thousands of doors to build support for Corzine. The election is Nov. 3

Christie wants to lay off up to 20,000 state workers and curtail collective bargaining. He pledged that, "I'm going to do everything I can not to honor this deal," referring to contract provisions that Corzine recently negotiated with CWA and other public worker unions. Christie also vowed to eliminate workers' defined benefit pension plan. CWA represents 60,000 public workers in New Jersey.

Hetty Rosenstein, CWA state director for New Jersey, said Christie has even ridiculed the work some CWA members do, working with children in child care and early education. "He has referred to preschool and early childhood education as babysitting," Rosenstein said. "We have child care workers who provide a very important service, and we have people in early childhood education and child welfare. He's said that he would break up parts of the child welfare system and privatize it."

Christie opposes paid family leave and prevailing wages on state projects, among other anti-worker positions.  

Rain Doesn't Dampen Enthusiasm as CWAers Knock on Doors for Deeds

Democrat Creigh Deeds spoke to union activists in northern Virginia before they started labor walks last weekend. Below,former President Bill Clinton joins a Deeds rally.

Cold temperatures and pouring rain didn't stop CWA members from turning out in force last weekend to knock on doors for Creigh Deeds, Virginia's Democratic candidate for governor.

Early Saturday, Deeds visited the Northern Virginia Central Labor Council office and thanked volunteers from CWA and other unions before they headed out for labor walks. CWA members throughout the state participated in labor walks in their own communities; the walks are continuing every weekend until Nov. 3.

CWA members also are making phone calls to every CWA home to remind voters what's at stake. Deeds' Republican opponent, Bob McDonnell, and the GOP candidate for attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, are extreme anti-worker candidates. Cuccinelli has said that if elected he will not enforce collective bargaining laws.

Deeds got a big boost this week with a strong endorsement from The Washington Post and an appearance by former President Bill Clinton at a campaign rally. President Obama's support ad is up on YouTube. 

CWA: VZ Deal is Good for Wall Street, Bad for West Virginia

Nearly 100 CWA members turned out for Lobby Day in Charleston, W.Va., and spent the day making sure that legislators realize that the proposed sale of Verizon's telephone lines to Frontier Communications is a bad deal for West Virginia. 

CWA District 2 VP Ron Collins talks about key issues in the proposed Verizon-Frontier sale  with activists at Lobby Day in Charleston, WVa.

CWA District 2 Vice President Ron Collins briefed the legislature’s Labor Caucus and the legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary on how the deal could jeopardize economic development in the state.

Verizon wants to sell its 617,000 lines to Frontier in a deal that would give Verizon a tax free profit of $3.3 billion while Frontier would take on a staggering amount of debt and West Virginians would face declining service and little or no access to high speed communications.

The track record on these sales isn't good. Last year Verizon sold its telephone lines in northern New England to FairPoint Communications in a similar tax-free (for Verizon) deal. Now, FairPoint is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy.

CWA's print, radio and television ads are alerting consumers to what the deal is all about: big bucks for Verizon while consumers lose out on high-speed broadband and other telecommunications advances.

Watch CWA's television ad attacking corporate greed.

CWA's petition campaign points out why the deal is "good for Wall Street and bad for you" and is reaching out to consumers, unions and other organizations to make sure the Public Service Commission gets the message. Sign the petition and get more information at www.verizonfrontierdeal.org. The campaign is a project of the Verizon SIF.

CWA: Recognizing Customer Service Professionals in a Tough Job

Customer service professionals participated in celebrations and other events at CWA worksites nationwide to mark Customer Service Professional Recognition Day, part of a month long acknowledgment of the accomplishments and professionalism of customer service workers.

CWA EVP Annie Hill and Local 2108 President Les Evans visit with CWA members at Verizon call center in Silver Spring, Md.

CWA Executive Vice President Annie Hill was on hand to talk with members of Local 2108 in Silver Spring, Md., customer service professionals at Verizon. "We want to grow our relationship with call center workers and expand participation in the union.  That means expanding the ways in which we communicate and interact with customer service workers across our union," she said.

"Customer service professionals have a very difficult job and face many stress factors on the job. It is important to acknowledge their hard work, dedication and professionalism, especially this month, as unions around the world observe Customer Service Professionals Month," she added.  Working with UNI, the global union organizations, customer service professionals are supporting their colleagues at Telefonica through a global postcard campaign running through the end of October. The postcards will be delivered by UNI to the chief executive officer of Telefonica, Cesar Alierta, calling on the company to respect and recognize organizing and bargaining rights for Telefonica workers worldwide. 

CWA Supports Open Internet Rulemaking by FCC to Promote Investment, Innovation, Jobs 

The Federal Communications Commission is moving forward to develop rules to preserve an open Internet that also serve to stimulate investment, innovation and job creation. CWA commended Chairman Julius Genachowski for launching an open and transparent process and for acknowledging that there are no predetermined answers in this discussion. 

Over the next few months, CWA will participate in thorough discussions of the complex issues involved, particularly how to promote investment and innovation and continue job creation while protecting an open Internet.

CWA has long contended that the United States must support broadband build out to ensure the growth of advanced high speed networks, create the jobs our economy needs and restore the United States' standing as an Internet leader.